New copper(I) phosphane complexes of dihydridobis(3-nitro-1,2,4-triazolyl)borate ligand showing cytotoxic activity.

New copper(I) complexes of the type [H(2)B(tz(NO2))(2)]Cu[PR(3)](2) (1-5), [H(2)B (tz(NO2))(2)]Cu[dppe] (6) and [H(2)B(tz(NO2))(2)]Cu[PR(3)] (7, 8) have been synthesized from the reaction of CuCl, potassium dihydrobis(3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)borate, K[H(2)B (tz(NO2))(2)], and mono- or bi-dentate tertiary phosphanes. The complexes obtained have been characterized by elemental analyses and FT-IR in the solid state, and by NMR ((1)H and (31)P{(1)H}) spectroscopy in solution. Selected complexes 1, 3 and 5 have also been tested against a panel of several human tumor cell lines in order to evaluate their cytotoxic activity. Complexes 1 and 5 showed IC(50) values appreciably lower than those exhibited by cisplatin, the most used metal-based antitumor drug. It is worth noting that all three tested Cu(I) complexes appear to be particularly effective against A549 carcinoma cells that are resistant to cisplatin treatment.